Q2: I downloaded the latest drivers of Windows updates for my sound chip and it installed a sound effect manager in my taskbar. There are no options to disable or remove this feature. What can I do?

A2: You can remove the sound effect manager by the following ways: 1. Run "regedit.exe" (for Win2000, run regedt32.exe) 2. Delete the registry value "SoundMan" located on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.

Q3: Would the ALCXXX support DOS mode drivers ?

A3: There are two major components for AC'97 sound cards: AC'97 CODEC and audio controller. Realtek is an AC'97 CODEC manufacturer. The most important part of an AC'97 sound card is the audio controller in the chipsets, provided by the chipset vendor. The integrated sound chip doesn't usually have SB compatible hardware to support DOS games directly. We implement an SB emulation in the DOS prompt of Windows OSes instead. If you want to run a DOS game, please run it in the DOS Box of Windows. It can support almost 90% of popular DOS games. Please type 'set' in DOS box to check what resources you should set for your DOS programs. The resources will be shown as 'BLASTER=Axxx Dx Ix Pxxx'. The compatibility between a DOS driver and a SB emulation in DOS Box of Windows is almost the same because of lack of hardware support. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

A3: There are two major components for AC'97 sound cards: AC'97 CODEC and audio controller. Realtek is an AC'97 CODEC manufacturer. The most important part of an AC'97 sound card is the audio controller in the chipsets, provided by the chipset vendor. The integrated sound chip doesn't usually have SB compatible hardware to support DOS games directly. We implement an SB emulation in the DOS prompt of Windows OSes instead. If you want to run a DOS game, please run it in the DOS Box of Windows. It can support almost 90% of popular DOS games. Please type 'set' in DOS box to check what resources you should set for your DOS programs. The resources will be shown as 'BLASTER=Axxx Dx Ix Pxxx'. The compatibility between a DOS driver and a SB emulation in DOS Box of Windows is almost the same because of lack of hardware support. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Q4: I am using Windows 98 4.10.1998. When installing drivers for win 95/98, I have delay in sounds in games like FIFA 2001. With the win 98 SE drivers all is OK. Why the drivers for win 98 are different from the drivers for win 98SE? The SPIDF would be in the "device manager"? Why my Power DVD doesn't recognize the SPDIF output? The SPDIF output is in communication with the Realtek chip?

A4: We offer two different types of audio drivers for MS Windows OSes. The WDM driver is for Win98SE or later versions and the VXD driver is for Win98/95. Recommended by MS, the WDM driver had better not be used on Win98. That is why we normally use the VXD driver for Win98 (4.10.1998). If you don't encounter any problems using the WDM driver with Win98, you can keep on with it.

For some reasons, we do not support DirectSound directly in the VXD driver. We just have the DirectSound software emulation layer do it for us. I think that is why you have delay in sounds in DirectSound games. We suggest you to upgrade your OS to Win98SE or later versions. Our WDM driver has more powerful features, such as EAX support, and it will support DirectSound better than the VXD driver.

Our AC'97 CODECs support the SPDIF function on P4B with the WDM driver. With limitation of the MS kernel driver, the Win98SE cannot support SPDIF with AC-3 format without MS QFE269601 installed on Win98SE. If you want to play AC-3 format under Win98SE, QFE269601 should be installed. If you want to play AC-3 format under Win2000, service pack 2 should be installed. WinMe and WinXP can support AC-3 format without any patch files from MS. For Wave (PCM) format, all Windows OSes can be played with the WDM driver.

A5: We support the Linux driver and you can download it at our web site: http://www.realtek.com.tw. For the others, we don't have plans to support them now.

In fact, the AC'97 audio CODEC is a standard CODEC for audio controllers. The most important part is the audio controller which is provided by SouthBridge chipset vendors. We are an AC'97 audio CODEC vendor, not a SouthBridge chipset vendor. AC'97 audio CODEC drivers are varied for different audio controllers. But if the audio controller is the same, the same drivers can be used for most AC'97 audio CODECs. If you can find drivers for your audio controller for the other OSes, they can usually be used with Realtek AC'97 CODECs.

A5: We support the Linux driver and you can download it at our web site: http://www.realtek.com.tw. For the others, we don't have plans to support them now.

In fact, the AC'97 audio CODEC is a standard CODEC for audio controllers. The most important part is the audio controller which is provided by SouthBridge chipset vendors. We are an AC'97 audio CODEC vendor, not a SouthBridge chipset vendor. AC'97 audio CODEC drivers are varied for different audio controllers. But if the audio controller is the same, the same drivers can be used for most AC'97 audio CODECs. If you can find drivers for your audio controller for the other OSes, they can usually be used with Realtek AC'97 CODECs.

Q6: When I ran the Microsoft DirectX Diagnostic tool (Dxdiag.exe) sound test on a computer with Realtek audio driver (Windows Driver Model) installed, the test did not run properly, and the operating system showed the following message: "Your sound card does not support hardware buffering. Sound will only playback from software buffers." What does this mean?

A6: The message meant that your audio system doesn't support 22050Hz sampling rate. The kernel mixer of Windows operating system will transfer the sampling rate to one supported. It will not affect any playback or recording. Please visit http://support.microsoft.com/ for detailed information.

Q7: I've set the AC'97 audio configuration utility to 4-channel mode and when I tested the speaker, the rear worked, but when I wanted to listen to some audio (mp3), only the front speakers worked properly, the rear speakers didn't work well and with a lot of noises.

A7: Please check your sound file support 4/6 channel feature. Some MP3 files only support 2 channel function. You can try to test the speaker with SoundEffect.

A7: Please check your sound file support 4/6 channel feature. Some MP3 files only support 2 channel function. You can try to test the speaker with SoundEffect.